Lonavala

 Last weekend was one of those rainy days in Bombay when it pours and pours and the only things to do are: either laze around the house, watch a movie or go for a long drive. And what better place than Lonavala to go for a drive in such a climate?

 Lonavala and Khandala are twin hill stations just a 2-hour drive away from Mumbai and prove to be a perfect monsoon getaway. This trip was particularly special as me and my best friend were finally going somewhere together outside the city for the first time and had been planning this trip for years. And now there we were, actually doing it :D

The climate in Lonavala was perfectly pleasant, not too sunny and neither was it raining. We did not do much as this was at least the 20th time I was there. So all we did was walked around the local market tasting fresh chikki and fudge that Lonavala is famous for, got wet in the rain as we carried hot pizza to the hotel, ate the pizza in the cozy room, watched some TV snuggling in the warm blanket and went for coffee in the evening.

The next day after lazing around a bit more and watching some more TV, we went to the local market, shopped a bit and checked out by 3. On our way back we were welcomed by the rain and the fog as we reached Khandala. We stopped on the way to take some photos, it was beautiful and so foggy that we could barely see the valley below.

Places of interest in Lonavala and Khandala are:  

Bushy dam and Valvan dam. Rajmachi point from where one can see the valley and expressway. If one views the valley from a certain point from Tiger's Leap,  one has the illusion of a tiger leaping across the valley and it is also known as echo point. Duke's nose named so as it resembled the nose of the Duke of Wellington and offers a breathtaking view of the surrounding valleys, mountains and forests. Karla and Bhaja caves are ancient rock- cut Buddhist temples, some of them dating back to 2nd centuary BC.